Question NW3108 to the Minister of Public Works:

Van Damme, Ms PT to ask the Minister of Public Works:

(1) Who authorised the allocation of a state house to Mr Mac Maharaj from 1 January 2010 until 30 April 2015; (2) whether his department received a request from anyone to allocate a state house to the specified person; if not, how was the decision made to allocate the house; if so, (a) who made the request, (b) when was the request made and (c) on what grounds was the request made; (3) what was the total cost, including cleaning and other services, of providing the house to the specified person for the period he occupied it; (4) whether his department has a policy with regard to awarding state houses in the Bryntirion Estate in Pretoria to (a) persons who are not Ministers or Deputy Ministers and (b) special envoys; if not, why not; if so, what is the relevant policy; (5) whether his department requested the specified person to pay rent while occupying the state house; if not, why not; if so, what amount was (a) requested and (b) paid? MINISTRY PUBLIC WORKS REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA Department of Public Works l Central Government Offices l 256 Madiba Street l Pretoria l Contact: +27 (0)12 406 2034 l +27 (0)12 406 1224 Private Bag X9155 l CAPE TOWN, 8001 l RSA 4th Floor Parliament Building l 120 Plain Street l CAPE TOWN l Tel: +27 21 468 6900 Fax: +27 21 462 4592 www.publicworks.gov.za NATIONAL ASSEMBLY WRITTEN REPLY QUESTION NUMBER: 3108 [NW3649E] INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: No. 32 of 2015 DATE OF PUBLICATION: 21 AUGUST 2015 DATE OF REPLY: 07 SEPTEMBER 2015 Ms P T van Damme (DA) asked the Minister of Public Works: (1)Who authorised the allocation of a state house to Mr Mac Maharaj from 1 January 2010 until 30 April 2015; (2)whether his department received a request from anyone to allocate a state house to the specified person; if not, how was the decision made to allocate the house; if so, (a) who made the request, (b) when was the request made and (c) on what grounds was the request made; (3)what was the total cost, including cleaning and other services, of providing the house to the specified person for the period he occupied it; (4) whether his department has a policy with regard to awarding state houses in the Bryntirion Estate in Pretoria to (a) persons who are not Ministers or Deputy Ministers and (b) special envoys; if not, why not; if so, what is the relevant policy; (5)whether his department requested the specified person to pay rent while occupying the state house; if not, why not; if so, what amount was (a) requested and (b) paid? NW3649E REPLY: The Minister of Public Works (1) We could not find any official record in the Department of Public Works of who authorized the allocation of State-owned accommodation to Mr Mac Maharaj. (2)(a), (b) and (c) See the response to (1) above. (3) Services rendered at the Bryntirion Estate are centralised and costs are not recovered from individual occupants. (4) (a) and (b) State-owned accommodation at the Bryntirion Estate is not exclusively reserved for Ministers and Deputy Ministers. The Estate has different types of accommodation including houses and flats. Government officials are accommodated at the Estate as well. Following the introduction of the Turnaround Strategy in 2012 the Department has embarked on a process of further refining the Prestige policy, which includes the allocation and occupation State-owned accommodation. (5) (a) and (b) See response to (1) above. _______________________________________________________________________